Curtain-fixture.



No. 817,759. PATENTED'APR. 17, 1906. H. H. FORSYTH.

CURTAIN FIXTURE.

APPLICATION nun 001'. 11. 1904.

' a sums-4mm 1.

PATENTED APR.1'7, 1906'.

H. H. FORSYTH.

CURTAIN FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 17. 1904.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENTED APR. 17, 1906.

H. H. FORSYTH.

CURTAIN FIXTURE.

APPLICATION FILED 00117, 1904.

3 SHEBTS-SHEET 3.

D L Q rJ'NTTnn sTA ns PATENT clarion.

HENRY H. FORSYIH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CURTAIN SUPPLY COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CURTAIN-FIXTURE.

Patented April 17, 1906.

Application filed October 17, 1904. Serial No. 228,796

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY H. FoRsYrH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Fixtures, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to curtain-fixtures of that general type wherein a spring-actuated curtain or shade is adjustably held at its lower end to maintain a smooth and taut condition by means of a curtain-stick, mounted transversely of and in the lower end portion of the curtain and carrying on its ends heads which engage grooves in the side walls of the frame, said heads being provided with means for frictionally retaining the curtain in any desired or adjusted position, while permitting adjustments from one position to another by a slight retraction of the heads. In our: tam-fixtures of this general type numerous devices have heretofore been proposed for creating the releasable holding effect of the heads of the curtain-stick in the grooves, including devices adapted to produce a dragging or braking effect on the rollers usually carried by said heads, friction-shoes adapted to have rubbing contact with the bottom walls of the grooves, cam-operated devices adapted to bite against the bottom walls of the grooves, and, in some instances, devices adapted to frictionize with the side walls of the groove.

My present invention pertains to the lastmentioned species of curtain-holding devices, but differs therefrom broadly in one lmportant particular. In all of the devices heretofore proposed for creating the holding effect through frictional engagement with the side walls of the groove, so far as I am aware, the outward thrust of the usual spring or springs of the curtain-stick has been depended upon for this purpose. My present invention operates on a different principle in that the laterally-applied frictional holding effect is created by and arises out of an angular relation existing between the head and the groove engaging surface or surfaces of the rollers carried by the head which ride on the wall of the groove, whereupon the up or down travel of the rollers in the groove forces one or both sides of the head into frictional engagement with the corresponding side or sides of the groove, incidentally, also, forcing the same side or sides of the rollers into frictional engagement with the adjacent inner surface of the side or sides of the head, thereby creating a retarding or braking effect upon the roller or rollers, which thereby produces more or less drag of the periphery of the roller on the bottom wall of the groove, thus augmenting the friction effect produced between the external side surfaces of the head and the side walls of the groove.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated several mechanical forms in which the principle of my invention may be embodied in practice.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 illusing the lower left-hand corner of a curtain with one end of the fixture applied thereto, the tubular curtain-stick being partly in longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a face view of the fixture shown in Fig. 1. lar to Fig. 2, illustrating a modification in the form of the rollers adapted to produce a frictional engagement of both sides of the head at their opposite ends with both side walls of the groove. showing a modification of the form and arrangement of the rollers which effect the sidewise movement of the head adapted to produce the same effect upon the latter as the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2. is a face view of the fixture shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4, showing the parts of Figs. 4 and 5 in a canted or tilted position and illustrating the self-righting operation. but illustrating an arrangement of rollers adapted to effect a movement of the head in the groove similar to the effect produced by the construction shown in Fig. 3. face view of the fixture shown in Fig. 7. Figs.

. 9 and 10 are views similar to Figs. 7 and 8,

respectively, but illustrating a still further modification of the form and mounting of the rollers, the latter being shown as mounted Fig. 5-"

Fig. 7 is a View similar to Figs. 1 and 4/ one side wall of the groove, the figure show- Fig. 3 is a view simi- Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, p

Fig. 8 is a IOO so as to produce a bodily sidewise movement of the head toward one side of the groove.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, l5 designates a section of a spring-actuated curtain or shade carrying in its lower portion the usual tubular curtain-stick, (designated by groove.

16.) Within the curtain-stick 16, at each end thereof, is mounted a rod 17, the outer end portion 17 of which is of sufficiently-enlarged diameter to have a sliding fit in the end of the tubular stick 16 and to provide a shoulder or abutment for the outer end of the usual compression-spring 18, by which the head is forced into engagement with the vertical groove in the side wall of the frame. Mounted on the end of the stick 17 is the elongated head 19, which, as more particularly shown in Fig. 2, is a hollow member having parallel side walls, open ends, and an inner or rear wall, the head. being conveniently pressed or stamped into the form shown from a single blank of sheet metal. In the opposite ends of the head are rotatably mounted a pair of rollers 20. The peripheries of these rollers, as more particularly shown in Fig. 2, are spirally grooved to thereby produce on each a spiral thread, (marked 21.) The bottom wall of the groove of the frame is indicated at 22 and side walls thereof at In operation the rollers 20 are forced. by the spring 18, acting through the head 19, into peripheral engagement with the bottom wall of the groove, and by the upward pull of the curtain-roller spring the rollers 20 tend to roll upwardly on the bottom wall of the By reason of the fact that the peripheral engaging surfaces represented by the faces of the turns or coils of the thread 21 he at other than a right angle to the axes of the rollers such movement causes the rollers lto'travel diagonally of the track represented by the bottom wall of the groove, and this carries the head bodily over toward that side wall of the groove toward which the rollers travel, bringing the side of the head into a frictional engagement with said side wall of the groove sufficient to overcome the pull of the curtain-roller spring and arrest the further upward movement of the curtain. At the same time that this occurs that side of the rollers which lies nearest to the side wall of the groove toward which the rollers travel in their lateral movement frictionizes with the adjacent inner surface of the side wall of the head, thereby retarding or braking the rotation of the rollers and producing an auxiliary friction effect between the periphery of the rollers and the bottom wall of the groove.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3 the rollers 20 are provided with spiral threads 21 and 21*, respectively, which threads are in versely disposed, as shown, with the result that the upward movement of the head and 'the upward travel of the rollers on the bottom wall of. the groove produces a sidewise movement of said rollers in opposite directions, which carries the upper end of the head into lateral frictional engagement with one side wall of the groove and the lower end of the head into a similar lateral frictional engagement with the opposite side wall of the groove, thus producing, as it were, a slight tilting effect of the head and a sufficient frictional holding engagement of the opposite end portions of the head against the two side walls of the groove to resist the upward pulling effect of the curtain-roller spring and hold the shade in adjusted position.

In the modification of the invention illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 plain or smooth surface-rollers 24 are employed; but these rollers are mounted on axes which are disposed at other than a right angle to the parallel side walls of the head, so that the planes of the rollers are at a slight angle to the vertical plane of the head. This produces the same effect, so far as bodily lateral movement of the head in its upward travel is concerned, as in Figs. 1 and The rollers 24 may be conveniently mounted in the manner described by cutting the side walls of the head transversely for some distance at points substantially opposite the upper and lower peripheries of the rollers, respectively, as shown at 25 and 26, respectively, and bend ing inwardly the opposite portions of the side walls in which the rollers are mounted, such inwardly-bent portions on the two side walls being indicated by 27 and 28, respectively.

My invention is capable of embodiment in a head provided with roller tips for self righting purposes, and to illustrate its ad aptabil ty to the roller-tip type of head I have shown the head. in the form illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 as provided with such rollertips, (indicated. at 29,) the same being mounted in the ends of the head beyond the frictionizing-rollers 24. Fig. 6 illustrates the self-righting action of the device when the curtain-stick becomes canted through improper manipulation, as by a push or a pull near one end of the stick. In this case the intermediate frictionizing-rollers 24 are withdrawn from engagement with the bottom wall of the groove, thus leaving the diagonally-opposite tip-rollers 29 at the two ends of the stick free to effect the restoration of the stick to horizontal position under the action of the curtain-roller spring in a manner already well understood in rollertip fixtures.

Figs. 7 and 8 illustrate the same specific form of frictionizing-rollers and. the same manner and means of mounting them in the head as is shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, already described, with this difference, however, that the. two rollers 24 and 24" are inversely inclined, which produces opposite lateral movements of the ends of the head, causing the latter to frictionize with both side walls of the groove in the manner already described in connection with Fig. 3.

Figs. 9 and 10 illustrate a slightly-different form of roller, which preserves the plain or smooth face of the rollers 24, but avoids bottom wall of the the necessity of cutting and bending the side walls of the head to provide for the angular inclination of the rollers. In this case the rollers (indicated by 30) are set in the head with the planes of their peripheries at an angle to the vertical Figs. 4, 5, and 6; but their axes are mounted in bearings 31, disposed obliquely to the side walls of the head in which they are formed, and in order to produce-the necessary thrust effect of the rollers against the inner surfaces of the side walls to carry the head bodily against the side wall of the groove the opposite sides of the rollers are beveled or made cone-shaped, as shown at 30 so that diagonally opposite radial lines of such beveled surfaces will always lie parallel or substantially parallel to the side walls of the head, and thus be effective to transmit to the latter the lateral thrust created by the inclined travel of the rollers on the bottom wall of the groove. Obviously the rollers 30 might be set with the planes of their peripheries inversely disposed, as in Figs. 7 and 8, to produce a tilting action on the head and a frictionizing of both sides of the latter with both side walls of the groove in the manner already described.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my.

present invention is distinguished in respect to its general principle of operation by the creation of a frictional holding effect between one or both sides of the head and one or both side walls of the groove, which frictional effect is created and set up through the agency of the member carried by the head and riding upon the bottom wall of the groove in such a manner as to give to the head a combined longitudinal and lateral travel under the pull of the curtain-roller spring. Believing myself to be the first to disclose a curtain-fixture embodying this general principle of operation, I do not limit the invention to any or all of the particular mechanical embodiments thereof herein shown and described, but reserve the right to such detail changes as would still be within the principle of operation herein disclosed.

I claim- 1. In a curtain fixture, the combination with a curtain-stick and a head carried thereby adapted to travel in a groove in the frame, of means carried by said head engaging the groove and operating, under the pull of the curtain-roller spring, to impart a lateral movement of the head in the groove, substantially as described.

2. In a curtainfixture, the combination with a curtain-stick and a head carried there by adapted to travel in a groove in the frame, of a roller carried by said head engaging the bottom wall of the groove, the groove-engaging periphery of said roller lying in a plane inclined relatively to the vertical plane of the head whereby, in the longitudinal movement plane of the head, as inof said head in the groove, the roller cooperates with the bottom wall of the latter to crowd said head against the side wall of the groove, substantially as described.

3. In a curtain-fixture, the combination with a curtain-stick and a head carried thereby adapted to travel in a groove in the frame, of a roller mounted in said head in a plane inclined relativelyto the vertical plane of the head whereby, in the longitudinal movement of said head in the groove, the peripheral travel of the roller over the bottom wall of the latter acts to crowd said head against the side wall of the groove, substantially as described.

4. In a curtain-fixture, the combination with a curtain-stick and a head carried thereby adapted to travel in a groove in the frame, of rollers mounted in the upper and lower portions of said head, respectively, said rollers being disposed in planes inclined relatively to the vertical plane of the head and peripherally engaging the bottom wall of the groove, whereby, on the longitudinal movement of the head in the groove, said head is given a lateral movement, substantially as described.

5. In a curtain-fixture, the combination with a curtain-stick and a head carried thereby adapted to travel in a groove in the frame, of rollers mounted in the upper and lower portions of said heads, respectively, the

peripheral surfaces of said rollers lying in planes inclined relatively to the vertical plane of the head and inversely disposed relatively to each other, whereby the rolling engagement of said rollers with the bottom Wall of the groove in the longitudinal travel of the head causes the opposite end portions of said head to laterally rub against the opposite side walls of the grooves, substantially as described.

6. In a curtain-fixture, the combination with a curtain-stick and a head carried thereby adapted to travel in a groove in the frame, of one or more friction-rollers mounted in said head and disposed in planes inclined relatively to the vertical plane of the head and peripherally engaging the bottom wall of the groove, and antifriction-rollers mounted in the opposite ends of said head, substan tially as described.

7. In a curtain-fiXture, the combination with a guide, of a curtain-stick, and a head carried thereby adapted to cooperate with the guide, of a rotatable member carried by the head engaging the guide and operated by the pull of the curtain-roller spring to impart a lateral movement to the head relative to the guide.

8. In a curtain-fixture, the combination with a guide, a curtain-stick, and a head carried thereby adapted to cooperate with the guide, of a roller carried by the head engaging the guide, and operated by the pull of the curtain roller spring to impart a lateral movement relative to the guide by its rotary With a guide, of a curtain-stick and a head movement in said guide. carried thereby adapted to cooperate with 9, In a curtain -fiXture, the combination the guide, and traveling means carried by the With a guide, of a curtain-stick, and a head head engaging the guide and operating under I5 5 carried thereby, adapted to cooperate with the pull of the curtain-roller spring to impart the guide, of movable means carried by the a lateral movement to the head relative to the head engaging the guide and operated by the guide.

pull of the curtain-roller spring to impart a HENRY H. FORSYTH. lateral movement to the head relative to the Witnesses: 1o guide. SAMUEL N. POND,

10. In a curtain-fixture, the combination MATTIE B. BLIss. 

